


Carbon Copy

by Skarias



Series: Collateral Damage [4]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Headcanon, Project 32, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-06-28 15:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15710325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skarias/pseuds/Skarias
Summary: "But 'what ifs' don't matter now, do they? Because so far every single one of my 'sisters' has tried to kill me! Maybe Coral was right, maybe I am just a cheap imitation, some experiment grown in a fucking petridish!"orWhat could've happened if Izak made that call he promised Mako.





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Set after World Aflame / Bits and Pieces
> 
> You don't have to read them to understand this story but some parts will probably make more sense if you do.

 

Mako's gaze was lost between the seemingly endless amount of stars that appeared one moment and vanished into the nothingness of space billions of klicks behind her in the next. Mako, that was her name, wasn't it? Maybe it wasn't. Another lie. Another thing she couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember any of it?

Project 32. Everything always begins with a number. Maybe they gave her a number as well. She figures the name 'Mako' must've been purely cosmetic, perhaps so they didn't mix them up while they ran their sick experiments and rammed metal implants into their skulls.

Mako wonders how many of them are still out there, looking exactly like her. Same face, same eyes, same godforsaken implant they never asked to receive. She had found the birth certificates of twelve, but what does that have to say when there are so many dark secrets still burried deep inside the SIS databanks even she can't crack.

Her right hand subconsciously brushes over the high-tech, strictly classified piece of trash metal embedded in her temple, the thing that makes her _special_ , also part of the reason Coral hunted down the remaining members of Project 32, the people she had wanted to be the family she never knew. Just more lies, more deception and deceit. How could she have been so stupid as to believe any of it.

She is so sick of it. All of it. Mako holds back another wave of tears, her eyes still red and puffy from earlier when she finally found herself alone for a moment. Wiping away the heavy tears below her eyes she let's her gaze wander around the cockpit as she spins around the pilot's chair. The blue's and purple's of faster than light travel projecting abstract, ever changing designs onto every corner of the room while the ship traversed through the galaxy.

The tough act she had tried to pull in front of Coral and the SIS agents, and maybe herself too, had fallen apart the second the sealed doors of the airlock closed behind them and the Mantis took flight. Mako hadn't asked which destination Avou had punched into the nav computer as he practically stormed into the cockpit, anything far away from Nar Shaddaa was good enough for her right now.

-

She almost jumps when she hears the familiar sound of heavy, armored boots ascending the stairs behind her towards the cockpit, turning around and facing the mesmerizing image of hyperspace once again her hands instinctively move towards her face and try to wipe away any leftover tears.

He had seen her fall apart after Anuli was killed by the Eidolon's henchmen, back when everything had seemed so simple. When they hadn't known what they were or what they would become, when they were colleagues and not...friends? Best friends? Family? The lines had become so blurry she wasn't sure they even existed anymore.

But even all that time ago he would get that look in his eyes, that slight twitch in the way he acted, not noticeable if you didn't look for it, but still there. Like he blamed himself for everything bad that had ever happened to her, like he could have done anything to prevent it. Mako couldn't do that to him again.

Avou slumps into the chair next to her, his hands absently fumbling with the new cooling module on his blaster pistol that he had installed only recently after spending hours disassembling every little part of the weapon and putting it back together until it worked properly.

Mako liked those quiet, although rare, evenings on the Mantis when she could just lean back and look at him work on some new targeting software for the small rocket launcher on his wrist or watch him attempt to improve the shields on his durasteel armor while she busied herself with filtering the neverending streams of information that were the HoloNet for something they could turn into quick credits.

She hadn't realized she was lost in her memories until Avou's voice suddenly burst the bubble of her daydream. She blinks multiple times as she spins her head towards him.

"Oh, sorry," he says quickly,  "didn't mean to interrupt...whatever you were doing."

"No, it's fine. I was just lost in my thoughts for a second." she responds, trying to smile, "something up?"

There was a brief pause in which his hands stopped moving and his gaze was suddenly fixed on a point somewhere in the vast scenery that unfolded itself before them, "No, no, it's still a long way to Alderaan" he murmurs more to himself, and after a brief pause in which his left leg abruptly begins to shake a little, he adds, "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about Coral, you shouldn't have to listen to what she said."

Mako lifts an eyebrow at their destination but quickly shoves the thought aside for now. She should have known that he would see right through her, who was she kidding, he probably heard her sobbing from the other end of the ship earlier.

"I'm fine," she lies, letting her eyes wander back towards the broad front window of the ship, "just a little shaken up after...well, everything really." Mako tenses for a brief moment under the touch when she feels his unarmored palm on her shoulder.

"Hey, look at me." he insists as he gently squeezes her shoulder, Mako reluctantly gives in and looks the zabrak opposite of her in the eye, "Remember what you told me all that time ago on Dromund Kaas? You can talk to me too, you know."

The memories of that night begin to flicker and play out inside her mind like a HoloNet transmission. They had just wrapped up their business on Tatooine when they made a detour towards Dromund Kaas for some long overdue maintenance on the Mantis, the climate was a nice change too.

Mako remembers that night in the apartment, when she feverishly tried to fall asleep and all she could think about were the people she had lost. The friends she had buried. She was up to get herself a glass of water when she heard him in the other room, thrashing and talking in his sleep like a herd of rancors were about to eat him alive. In hindsight she figures he would've preferred that over his actual nightmares.

"For as long as I can remember I always wondered what my parents might've been like, if maybe I had siblings. What if something happened to them? What if-" she pauses briefly, trying to fight off the next rush of hot tears that threaten to overwhelm her, "But 'what ifs' don't matter now, do they? Because so far every single one of my 'sisters' has tried to kill me! Maybe Coral was right, maybe I'm just a cheap imitation, some experiment grown in a fucking petridish!" In the end, Mako loses the battle against the tears as the droplets run freely down her cheeks and plunge towards the floor

"And what if you are? What does that change?" he asks, his hand slowly moving towards her back. He decides he doesn't want to wait for her reply and let's her cry instead as he continues, "Nothing! That's what! You're still you. You're still the best slicer this side of Coruscant, and that's not just because of that damn implant of yours and you well know it! We didn't win the Great Hunt and survived this long because of where you came from. We did it because you're you, brilliant, kind, bloody incredible you!"

"How do you do that?" she asks after a brief moment of silence that feels like an eternity to both of them, "How do you know exactly what to say?"

"Learnt from the best." he replies, a small, barely visible smile tucking at the edges of his lips.

"Thank you." she whispers. Mako burrows her head in his neck and sobs freely.

Both of them practically jump apart when the sudden sound of an incoming call on the holoterminal echoes through the ship.

"Perhaps you'll get your answers after all." Avou murmurs as they head towards the flickering device.

 


	2. Sleeping Dogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse any spelling and/or grammatical mistakes. It's late and English isn't my first language.

_It seems everything that ever happens in her life would eventually lead her back towards the vastness of Hutt Space, to the densely populated world of Nar Shaddaa, the Smuggler's Moon orbiting Nal Hutta, to be precise._

_Mako hadn't known what to expect when she started to intercept Izak's communications after their little chat on the Mantis, but in the end she should've guessed that the universe would send her back to the planet where everything had begun one more time._

_Hunting the huntress. The woman so obsessessed with ending everyone and everything associated with this ominous 'Project 32'. The big mystery that was appearently able to connect all the dots in the darkness she couldn't grasp and make sense of this madness._

_Mako could've sworn the Mantis hadn't even quite touched down onto the spaceport's hangar when both of them practically jumped out of the ship and hailed a cab towards the crowded cesspool that was the Promenade, a glimpse of wealth and extravagance in the commercial district only a hutt could have come up with._

_The dazzling, flashing neon signs that clustered the great square and surrounded the monolithic, golden statue of Karagga the Unyielding, positioned in it's center and reaching all the way above the second floor, seemed dull and almost gloomy when she compared them to how she had perceived them in the past._

_In the end it made sense for Coral to hide all the way out here, far away from the core systems and out of reach for most authorities, although, thinking about it, the reasons why she was at large in the first place were most likely far beyond the paygrades of 'most authorities'._

_There are only so many planets besides the Smuggler's Moon and possibly Coruscant's underworld where one can disappear and lose any pursuers quiet as easily as here, amidst millions of other criminals and fugitives that all don't want to be found. It looked like Coral finally made a mistake and gave her location away. One way or another Mako would get the answers she was looking for._

_It didn't take them long to find the seemingly abandoned SIS hideout with the coordinates she decrypted from Izak's messages. Cracking the door's security system took all but a few moments, the door slit open to reveal nearly absolute darkness inside the building, the light of the Promenade not reaching far enough to reveal anything but the dusty floor inside._

_With a soft 'click' that echoed almost silently through the pitch black room the flashlights intigrated into their blasters sprang to life and slim beams of white light scoped through their surroundings. Taking a few tentative steps inside, the light quickly revealed several dead SIS agents along the walls and behind some crates they must've used as makeshift cover_

_Avou gestured towards a small console next to what looked like an elevator, she couldn't quite tell in the dim light emiting from her pistol as she moved towards it. The beam of light following her eyes as they darted around the room after every step._

_Soon enough her hands were flying over a partly-damaged but mostly intact console embedded into the wall next to what appeared to be indeed an elevator that had seen far better days in the past while her partner searched the room for anything that could tell them more about what happened._

_"Got it." she said, the dim, orange coloured lights inside the dusty room flickered and after several tense moments the elevator squaked as it's doors reluctantly seperated, revealing what must've been another one of the SIS agents stationed here lying lifeless in one of it's corners._

_"Coral's certainly been busy." Avou grimaces, pushing one of the smudged buttons inside the elevator, causing it to shake for a moment before descending towards the hideout's basement._

Mako shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the memories still fresh in her mind and doing her best to focus on the present, using a piece of cloth to wipe away the remaining tears on her face. A moment later the holoterminal begins to emit a soft hum as Izak's flickering, transparent form appears in the room, colouring them in different shades of light blue

"Mako," the SIS agent greets the slicer before directing his gaze towards the bounty hunter, his usually unreadable expression wavering for a split second, he almost seemed surprised, "this doesn't concern you, hunter, this is between Mako and me."

Avou was about to retort, having more than a few places in mind where Izak could shove that attidute of his, when Mako interjects, "He stays, Izak," she demanded, today's events having shortened her patience significantly "Project 32. Tell me what you did to us."

There was a pause in which the tension in the room threatened to crush them right where they stood, even the man somewhere on the other end of the galaxy seemed affected as he sighed and gave in, "You can still turn around and let this go, Mako. Too many good men have already died for this information and you saw what it did to Coral."

"Why? Because I can't handle it? Because I'm just some sidekick tagging along looking pretty?" Mako steps closer to the terminal, looking Izak in the eye as she continued, "You have no idea what I've been through so please don't try to patronize me right now." her tone grew louder as she continued, more of her self restraint crumbling away as everything begins to resurface inside her, "I'm so tired chasing rumors and shadows across half the blasted galaxy for tidbits of information, for one part of a puzzle that's missing all other pieces. So please just tell me."

He seemed to consider her for a moment, his expression shifting back to the usual unreadable stance she was used from agents of the Imperial Intelligence, before nodding, "If you're sure about this, I'll tell you," Izak said as he grabbed a datapad and begins to type, "but not here, not over an inescure connection like this. I've send the coordinates to your ship, encoded, of course. That's a puzzle you should be able to solve." with that the connection cut and the room was once again filled with silence, the only sound coming from the ship's engines and the machinery around them.

"You alright?" he asks after a moment of consideration, he knew the answer to the question before the words left his lips and curses himself.

"No, no I'm really not." she responds with a humourless laugh, "but maybe I will be after whatever Izak has to say to us."

"You got the coordinates of the rondezvous point?"

"Yeah, already deciphering parts of it. Looks like...looks like my implant recognizes the encryption. It's almost...familiar." she murmurs as they make their way towards the cockpit of the Mantis.

"You know It's a trap right?" he asks after sinking into the pilot's chair next to her.

"Most likely." she responds absently.

"And were just going to walk right into it?"

"Yep." she replies with a small smile.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you." he laughs and she joins him, not because anything was particularly funny after today's madness, but because laughing felt good.

"I think I've got it." Mako mumbles while her hands ghost over the nav computer.

"Please don't tell me it's on Nar Shaddaa." he groans only half joking.

"No, not quiet," she replies shaking her head, "Somewhere south of...the Rishi Maze? That's...a little out of the way. Looks like our mystery planet's called...Kamino."


	3. Hyperspace

Clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap.

Four steps, it takes her exactly four steps to walk from one side of her room to the opposite one. The sound of hardened boots against the metal floor beneath her feet echoes in the small chamber. It was going to drive the slicer insane.

Clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap.

Mako thought the ever present sound of the humming engines below the main deck would help her concentrate, aid in making things a little clearer. It did nothing to soothe the raging storm inside her mind.

Clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap.

She wonders if the inprints of her boots were yet visible on the floor, it feels like she has been walking up and down the quadratic room for hours now. Faster than light travel has never felt so slow before.

Clap-tap, clap-tap, clap- she stops dead in her tracks the second she feels a new presence in the doorway.

"You know, if you're planning on puncturing the mantis's hull, that," the bounty hunter pointed towards the floor beneath her, "is a very ineffective way to go about it."

"What's our ETA on Kamino?" she asks without turning around, trying to deflect the topic and gaze firmly fixed one that one, suddenly very interesting, spot on the greyish wall.

"Four Hours. I can see whenever you log into the nav computer, Mako. The ship won't fly faster even if you check the time every two minutes."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, not until I got all the pieces of this insane puzzle and can make at least some sense of it." her tone was harsher than she wanted it to be.

"I know," Avou chuckles, "That's why you don't have to. What you have to do is let me help you before you stare a hole in that poor wall."

The slicer gives him a questioning look but lets herself be dragged through the corridor leading into the almost completely empty cargo bay, "I hate surprises." Mako mutters as they walk into the dark room.

"That's too bad. I guess I'll have to return this, then." the smile across his face was audible through the darkness even before the lights sprang to live a moment later.

Eyes darting over the metallic object laying the bounty hunter's open palms her brain needed a few moments until it recognized the firearm as what it was.

"That's..that's a-"

"Mark-8 Dawnbringer." he finishes her sentence, the smile on his face broadening, "You know they're damn hard to find ever since that corporation on Corellia stopped producing these deathtraps a few years back."

She takes the blaster out of his hands and doesn't really know what to say.

_The doc had done nothing short of a miracle while treating her wounds, that was what the old man, Braden, he told her his name was Braiden, said anyways. Mako still didn't trust him but she didn't have a choice._

_Her left hand is draped over his shoulder, he helps her stumble out of the dusty clinic and doesn't say a word while doing so. It infuriated her to no end. There had to be a catch to all this. There always was a catch. That's the first thing you learn growing up on Nar Shaddaa._

_The slicer's free hand moves toward her hip, freezing in place as she realizes that she must've lost her blaster when she was jumped in that forsaken alley. She should've never taken that blasted job in the first place. Messing with the gangs on their own turf was like playing with fire, only that fire wouldn't shoot you in the gut and let you bleed out on the open street._

_The wound still hurt like hell, every step on the grimy streets sending another muffled jolt of pain through her body. Her mind was running triple time by the time they crossed another corner. A million ways of escaping flowed through her implant, a path over discarded junk to her left, climbing the the ledge right to her and hacking into one of the speeder bikes would take her no time at all and she would be gone before he knew it._

_Mako slipped her arm out from behind his neck, one swift motion later the slicer took off towards the closest skycar. She got as far as two steps in the direction she was aiming for before stumbling over and being cought just in time to stop her body to collide with the cold ground beneath them._

_"Get your hands off me!" she hissed._

_"There are easier ways to get yourself killed out here, Mako." the slicer begrudginly accepted the hand, figuring falling face first to the floor wouldn't do much for her dignity right now._

_"How the hell do you know my name? Who are you?"_

_"You will find I know a lot about you, that's why I'm here. I got a job for you, if you're interested. Far away from anywhere near hutt space." he smiled, maybe he even laughed, Mako couldn't quiet tell as she tried very hard not to look in his direction._

_"And if I'm not? Will they find my body in a few weeks inside a dumpster? What's your game, old man?" she demanded._

_Braden looked her in the eye, she couldn't see through the never changing mask that were his facial expressions and it infuriated her to no end. "No games. No tricks." she let out a cynical huff at that, disbelief practically painted all over her face still cought up in a grimace from the pain._

_It was however quickly replaced by disbelief of a whole other kind as Braden took the gun from the holster around his hip and pressed it in Mako's free hand._

_"Like I said, no games." he clarified again._

_"What stops me from just shooting you?"_

_This time she heard him laugh, "Nothing but your conscience and your curiosity. I believe at least one of them will get the better of you."_

"How did you even remember that? I told you that years ago. The day we stole the Mantis,right?" she asks, tracing the painting and symbols along the barrel that looks just like the one on the gun that forever changed her life all those years ago.

"Yeah. I also remember the part where the thing blew up in your face a few weeks laters," he laughs, "I made sure this one doesn't try to kill you."

Turning the gun around she could feel the differences. This one was far lighter than the one she had once used, the weight felt similar to her regular blaster now lying around dormant in her room.

"Is that the only thing you changed on it?" Mako grins with renewed enthusiasms.

"Why don't you find out?" The air around them begins to hum and soon enough dozens of fist-sized training droids buzz through the cargo bay, the blinking light integrated in each one taunting the two spectators.

"First to get twenty?"

"Oh, you're so on!"


End file.
